Before
you give advice, that is to say advice which you
have not been asked to give, it is well to put
to yourself two questions--namely, what is your
motive for giving it, and what is it likely to
be worth? If these questions were always asked,
and honestly answered, there would be less
advice given.

John William McKail
"On Giving Advice"

The
true secret to giving advice is, after you have
honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent
whether it is taken or not.

Hannah Whitall Smith

What's
wrong with advice? Advice is often a basic
insult to the intelligence of the other person.
It implies a lack of confidence in the capacity
of the person with the problem to understand and
cope with his or her own difficulties. As Norman
Kagan puts it, "In essence, we implicitly
say to someone, 'You have been making a
"big deal" out of a problem whose
solution is immediately apparent to me--how
stupid you are!'"

Robert BoltonPeople Skills

I
have found the best way to give advice to your
children is to find out what they want and then
advise them to do it.

Harry Truman

To
one who knows, it is superfluous to give advice;
to one who does not know, it is insufficient.

Do
not advise too much: do the job yourself. This is the
only
advice you can give to others. Do it and others will follow.

Jawaharial Nehru

If
I wanted to become a tramp, I would seek information and
advice from the most successful tramp I could find. If I
wanted
to be a failure, I would seek advice from men and women
who
never succeeded. If I wanted to succeed in all
things, I would
look around me for those who are succeeding,
and do as they do.

Joseph M. Wade

Good
advice offering requires knowing a person very, very well. So
well, in fact,
that you may know more about them than they know about themselves in
certain
situations. Then, good advice is loving and given out of
love. It is never to control
or manipulate. Then, it is giving information; just giving, not
enforcing, information.
And lastly and most importantly, after advice is given, the outcome is
let go of
completely, trusting that the other person will take it, leave it, or
ponder it.

On our
other website, Simple and Profound, we present short, pithy
words of wisdom
without categorizing or organizing--simply five short
quotations per page,
a veritable grab bag of thoughts to help us ponder the
important issues in life.Click
here to visit--you'll be glad you did!

If
you listen too much to advice, you may wind up
making other people's mistakes.

Croft M. Pentz
1001 Things Your Mother Told You

Advice
is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we
didn't.

Erica JongHow to Save Your Own Life

Old
men are fond of giving good advice, to console themselves
for being no longer in a position to give bad examples.

François La Rochefoucauld

People who
ask our advice almost never take it. Yet we should
never refuse to give it, upon request, for it often helps us
to see our own way more clearly.

Brendan Francis

The
reason why we often get poor advice is that it's hard to find
a
person who always has our best interest at heart, isn't
envious in
any way, and at no level thinks he knows what's best for you.

David J. LiebermanGet Anyone to Do Anything

There
are as many forms of advice as there are colors of the
rainbow.
Remember that good advice can come from bad people and bad
advice from good people. The important thing about
advice is that it is simply that. Advice.

Al FrankenOh, the Things I Know!

Advice
is a peculiar commodity. Those who have the capacity to
give good advice generally have too much sense
to waste their time trying to get rid of it.

William Henry McMasters
"On the Matter of Advice"

Be careful whose advice you buy,
but be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of
nostalgia. Dispensing it is a
way of fishing the past
from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over
the ugly parts
and recycling it for more than it's worth.

Mary Schmich
"The Sunscreen Address"

We
do not attend to the advice of the sage and experienced
because
we think they are old, forgetting that they once were young
and
placed in the same situations as ourselves.

William HazlittCharacteristics

Advice is only rarely
requested with the intention of being followed.
Sometimes, it is requested in order to flatter the advisor.
Sometimes,
it is requested because it is hoped that the advice given will
tell a
great deal about the advisor. Sometimes, the request is
an excuse
for spending time with the advisor, because his or her room is
nicer.
Occasionally, the request for advice is an introductory
sentence, a
polite preface to a lengthy statement of the requester's
opinion.
Asking for advice can also be a way of apologizing for
numerous
occasions when advice or orders have not been followed in the
past.

Norman SartoriusFighting for Mental Health

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Human
nature, when it will not receive advice, is like a stony plain
without grass, animals will not approach, all remain at a
distance from it.

Thomas Stamford RafflesThe History of Java

Giving
advice is many times only the privilege of saying a foolish
thing
one's self, under the pretense of hindering another from doing
one.

Alexander Pope

In my experience, most
unsolicited advice comes from people who
genuinely care. They want what's best for you, and they think
their
cautionary tales (even when you know the advice to be
misguided)
can help you avoid missteps. Whenever possible, just
graciously
say "thank you" and move on. This lets those who
care feel like they
are participating in your success and helping you on your
journey.

When
my daughter was small I looked forward to giving her advice.
In fact, I sincerely believe she also enjoyed it. For the most
important
thing a Dad can do is get his child ready for life. Not that I
ever thought
I was ready but at least I have been able to survive my years.
She used
to sit real close to me or on my lap and I would explain the
mysteries
of life to her. I would tell her of morals and ethics that
made life as good
as it can possibly be. Years later, when my daughter hit the
wonderful
teenage years, she didn't accept my advice as she did in the
past. In
fact, she obviously dreaded it. However, I gave it to her
anyway
because I wanted her to survive her teenage years.

Jim Fabiano

If
individuals hesitate to ask for advice out of a worry others
will perceive
them as less competent, they lose the ability to learn through
advice--and
organizations will fail to take advantage of one of the
central reasons
for putting people together in a workplace.

Steve Kelman

Asking
for advice is an act of humility. The act alone
says, "I need you." The decision-maker and the
adviser
are pushed into a closer relationship.

Dennis BakkeJoy at Work

Personally,
I know that I don't have enough time on this planet
to
study and to learn everything there is to
know. Therefore, I want
to take advice from
people who know much more than I in areas
outside of
my expertise. I try to take the advice of
doctors
concerning food and nutrition and exercise,
and I try to take the
advice of financial experts
when I need to figure out what to do
with my
money. I try to take the relationship advice
of and follow
the models of people who have happy,
successful relationships. And
I try to make
sure that any professional advice that I follow
comes
from someone who is successful and well
respected in the field.